Rob Bell is fast becoming enemy number one in a lot of Evangelical/Calvinistic/Reformed circles these last few days and all because of his new book coming out later this month, Love Wins.Rob has often been accused of holding some dodgy beliefs but this time for a lot of people he has gone too far. With just a release from his publisher and a short accompanying video, a lot of people have decided that Rob is a Universalist. In short, someone who believes that everyone will end up in Heaven.
I don't know if Rob is or isn't. I don't know what he believes. And the reason I don't is because I haven't read his book. And I'm not going to start talking about what someone believes even before it has been truly revealed. Maybe he is.
But this blog isn't really about Rob Bell. It's about how we live our lives as Christians. It's about how we love (yeah love, not just like or tolerate) the people we meet (or tweet about, hey that rhymes) every day in our lives.
You see theology is important. It's very important. But...sometimes we make it too important. Sometimes we forget that theology isn't the point of being a Christian. The problem that people have with the type of theology, which Rob Bell is accused of having, is that it takes away from Jesus death. That it is untrue to what the Bible says.
But what if in the middle of this whole debate we have missed something so much more important.
Jesus once said that the two greatest things we should do are Love God and then love others (Matt 22:37-40)
Maybe I am being naive but getting to Heaven isn't the point of being a Christian. Having the 'right' theology held by some Christians isn't the point. The point of being a Christian is Jesus.
The point of being a Christian is to follow his example. To love the people that nobody else gives a crap about. To give up our lives for something bigger than ourselves. To show compassion. To be with people who are hurting. To give our neighbour hope. To stand up for injustice. To help people be free from the things that are killing them daily.
To do all these things so that all people see in us, is Jesus.
At the risk of coming across all emergent like ; ) I am going to pose a question and not answer it outright.
What if we took Jesus commandments and loved God and loved others? What, if like Jesus said, we live each day following these two commandments, not as if they were the most important thing to Jesus, but because they are?
Maybe then theology wouldn't matter. Maybe then everyone would get to experience Heaven. Because love would be all the world would know and since Jesus is love, then the world would know Jesus.
You see people outside of Christian circles don't care about all this stuff. They wouldn't know the difference between a Calvinist and an emergent if they slapped them in the face with the Nicene Creed (if you don't know what that is well...exactly). Most people don't even think they need saving from anything.
What they do care about is being loved. About hurting. About finding real peace. About desiring joy.
If Jesus were to think anything about this whole Rob Bell debate, he might wonder when we got so distracted. When it was we rewrote his most important commandments to being "love God and make sure you get all your doctrine correct even though the word I left you can be fuzzy about a lot of this stuff" (I'm glad that wasn't one because that would have been hell learning in Sunday School)
So what if we did live that way?
I think in that case at least,
Love definately wins.
Logging you in...
@bertynesbitt · 735 weeks ago
i will be honest man, i find it easier to grasp the gospel and the kingdom message that Jesus from Rob bell than piper and these other folks...they make the message of the Kingdom hard work and less understandable...
a child should be able to understand it....and how does a child understand it? through love...they intereact more with the person if they show love towards them.....Jesus showed that love towards all who came to him are towards those he chilled out with.....
Jesus reflected the true meaning of Heaven on earth to those who were living the true Hell on earth...poor, sick, homeless, abused by the system, abused by religion etc.....
as the old sticker says........God is love....
so "We" should be love
Sojourner · 735 weeks ago
Paul Robinson · 735 weeks ago
Whether Rob Bell is a Universalist or not the point I was trying to make is still there. Let's Love God and show God's love to our neighbours. And make sure others see Jesus through our words and actions.
But thanks for your comments Sojourner :)
mindsblank 1p · 735 weeks ago
I'll get my little bit about rob bell in here while i have the chance. He has done some amazing stuff and i can't wait to read the book because if you look back at his work all of it really has been about looking at the scripture how it was meant to be read, but we "the western/ modern Church" have taken most of the bible out of context and we miss the true essence of the scriptures.
For that im excited to see what this book says. We'll just have to see what the book says but no matter what we shouldn't be calling him anti christ etc etc, we should love him, like Jesus loves us.
Slim · 735 weeks ago
I can't really argue with some of the points you make in this post - there is no doubt that people get hung up on the practicalities and theology of Christianity and don't actually live it. I'm guilty of it.
But that's not a new or radical insight, it's a problem noted in the Bible in Colossians 2 v 6-7. The Message says it best.
What I do have a problem with though is that you are saying you won't comment on what Rob Bell has said until the book is out....but he has already said things in his promo video that make me uncomfortable.
1. The questions he poses in the video aren't merely questions. They're clearly rhetorical, he's obviously making a point. And his point is that our "reformed" understanding of heaven/hell is wrong. He brings our understanding into question. But I'm convinced that reformed teaching on hell is Biblical and correct.
Tim Keller helpfully points out that Jesus teaches extensively about Hell and it is therefore an extremely important issue.
2. His questions around whether or not Gandhi is in hell are a concern. I have no idea where Gandhi's soul is but I do know he stated that he could ascribe no more divinity to Jesus than he could to Buddha or Allah. Gandhi missed the point about Jesus being the son of God and to me that's a central pillar of Christianity.
3. Bell opines that our beliefs about Heaven and Hell say what we believe about who God is, about what God is like. He states that what gets "caught and taught" is that Jesus saves us from God, from a God who would send us to Hell.
But I've never been taught that Jesus saves me from God. I've been taught that Jesus' death, his substitutionary atonement, saved me from the consequences of sin - eternal separation from God, or Hell.
I think they are two totally different teachings and they have two totally different representations of God attached to them.
One says God is wrath and will send me to Hell. But that isn't Biblical.
What is Biblical is that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life".
What is Biblical is that God loved this world enough to put Jesus in the place we deserved to be, to take away the punishment for our sin, to give us access to God, for eternity!
4. Bell wants us to question what type of God can send us to hell, how he can be trusted.
Bell wants us to look to a God who is "love", a God who is "good".
But to me that highlights just one characteristic of God and makes him into some 1 dimensional cartoon character. God is so much more than love and goodness. He is righteous, he is just etc etc etc.
I think Bell's caricature of God ignores that He abhors sin, detests it even, and ignores that God is a jealous God.
5. Bell states that people don't want anything to do with the Christian faith because it is a list of absurdities.
But who would want anything to do with a Christian life that is tough - that requires us to "take up our cross", to deny ourselves, to love our enemies as ourselves - a Christian life that costs?
Who would want anything to do with a life of persecution, a life of putting God before our own desires?
Who would want anything to do with that life when it really doesn't matter? When "love wins" no matter how we act, how we treat others, no matter what baser desires we pursue or what god we follow?
If these issues arise out of a 3 minute promo video I look forward to reading the book and putting more flesh on the bones of the arguments and clarifying Bell's thinking.
Paul Robinson · 735 weeks ago
I have been brought up in a probably similar Christian background and teaching to most typical Christians and these ideas of Rob Bells are ones that don't sit comfortably with what I have been brought up to believe in Church etc. My initial reaction to Rob's video was this is great. But do i really believe that?
I'm not necessarily saying that Rob Bell is correct in what he may or not may say in his book or indeed as you pointed out, has already said in his video.
I just wanted to put a different perspective on the whole debate that has been going on on the internet. I read somewhere that it could just be a huge publicity stunt and really when the book comes out we will find out he really does believe the Reformed, Biblically based teaching most Christians hold about these things. That would be hilarious to me..Probably not to a lot of people though.
Don't be fooled, even though I went to Bible College I am not an expert on any of this. You probably know more than I do lol. And everything you said I agree with.
For me the greatest thing the book will do is get people talking about Heaven and Hell. And ultimately I hope, about Jesus. We're scared to talk about it (Hell that is, although sometimes Jesus) and I'm glad Rob is addressing it.
I am sure this is not the end we will here of the book in coming days.
Paul Robinson · 735 weeks ago
Jesus Wins. · 734 weeks ago
I'm not a Rob Bell hater, his video "Everything is Spiritual" is one of my favourite dvd's ever, and Nooma can be helpful. I am a fan of John Piper, however that doesn't mean I think he's infallible and I'm not going to stand by everything he says. That being said, the outright dismissal of a man who's loved Jesus for 50 years, preached the word faithfully and been powerfully used of God, simply because he made a cheeky comment about a popular Pastor isn't on.